Oh hello! Here we go with the next chapter! And here comes Vision! Woo! I really do like Vision, and it's a shame he didn't really have more screen time in all the movies, as he's such an interesting and complex character. Anywho…as always, I'm here to disclaim that I have no rights or ownership to anything Marvel before I let you get to it. Hope you enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
By the time Tessa had managed to get the derailed train situation handed over to the local authorities and got herself and the Maximoff siblings back to the Tower, several hours had passed. The sky had grown dark, and she knew it was late, however, she had a feeling considering the amount of hurdles facing them right now, no body would be doing much resting.
"So, this is the Avengers' home?" Wanda asked as Tessa led them into the tower, looking around in surprise.
"What?" Tessa asked when she noticed her surprised look. "Were you expecting some evil secret lair? Perhaps screams drifting through the halls of all the victims we keep locked up in the basement?"
"Maybe at least one scream." Pietro tossed back at her with a smirk.
Tessa rolled her eyes. "I know between Hydra and Ultron you two must have this perception of us being these maniacal villains who need stopped, but I think if you just took the time to actually get to know us for yourselves, then you'd see we're not all that bad. We're just…people….we're still just the same as everyone else." She told them, looking over her shoulder at them. "Capable of making our own mistakes, just like the rest of the world. The only difference is when we make mistakes, we don't get the leeway to shrug it off. Our mistakes can cost the lives of countless innocents. The world watches and judges our every move, and all the while we're just doing what we think is right. We may have remarkable powers, but not one of us have the power to see into the future…to know which choice is going to end up backfiring on us."
"And what about the people who pay the price for these mistakes?" Wanda asked her. "Do they even matter to you? Or is what Ultron said true…do you only care about protecting yourselves?"
Tessa stopped in her tracks, swinging around to fully face them as they came to a stop behind her. "More than you know." Tessa said, crossing her arms. "Ultron may know the history of our mistakes, but he could never understand the weight that we carry because of them. We're not some sociopathic villains, you guys. We feel remorse….and guilt. Believe me…I think if any of us were given the choice of a normal life without all this chaos strapped to our backs, we'd take it. But we were never given that choice. We're all just doing the best we can with the shit cards we've been handed, hoping to keep the world just a little less shitty for everyone else. And yes, we make mistakes that have consequences that affect the world, but we'll never stop fighting to right those mistakes. You two have been forced down this path by a series of events you had no control over, too. And whether you like it or not, you're in the same boat as us. Your mistakes are just as dangerous as ours. We may have created Ultron, but you willingly chose to stand by his side and get him this far, which makes this just as on you as it is on us. Now tell me, are you going to keep pretending like you're better than us, or are you going to help us fix this?" she asked them with a lifted brow.
"It's good speech." Pietro told her with a shrug. "Will we all have to practice our motivational speaking if we say yes?"
"How about you just let your actions do the talking and let them prove your change of heart." Came Steve's voice behind Tessa, causing her to turn to find him walking down the hall towards them. "You know, you two have caused this team a lot of grief." He told the twins then as he came to a stop beside Tessa.
"Well, they're not the worst people I've offered a second chance to." Tessa told him, looking from him, back to the twins. "So, what do you say? You ready to right some wrongs?" she asked them again.
"We can admit to our own mistakes." Wanda told her with a nod. "We will help you stop Ultron."
"Good." Tessa said, looking back over at Steve. "What's the news on Romanoff?" she asked him then. "Have we managed to find out where Ultron's taken her?"
"Nothing yet." Steve told her with a sigh. "But Barton has nets out looking from any signs. Something will turn up, I'm sure."
"And the gem?" Tessa asked. "Have Bruce and Tony managed to extract it from the body?"
"Not sure. I was on my way down to check in on things, if you'd like to join me." He told her.
The four of them made their way down to the labs then, Steve guiding their way. Considering how long the two men had had the gem and body in their possession, Tessa could only assume they had managed to make at least some headway with the power source. However, when they all walked into the lab, Tessa came to realize that while they had been making progress with the body….it had been in the opposite direction than she had been hoping. They walked into the room and overheard Bruce directing Tony that he had to upload his schematics in the next three minutes and Tessa nearly exploded in rage. The two men were supposed to be dismantling the bio-synthetic body, yet here there were, trying to recreate another Ultron.
"What was that thing you said about righting your mistakes?" Wanda said in disdain as she crossed her arms, having figured out for herself what Tony and Bruce had been trying to do.
Tessa's glowing eyes slid from Wanda, back over to the two men. "Are you fucking insane?!" she snapped at them, stepping forward and letting the two men know of their presence in the room.
"Oh, hey. You're back." Tony said, his eyes sliding over to her and the others awkwardly.
"Seriously?!" she bit out, looking between Bruce and Tony astonishedly.
"It's not what it looks like." Tony tried saying, holding up his hands in defense.
"Oh really?" Tessa scoffed. "So, you're not trying to recreate another robot with enough power to level this whole city on a whim?" she asked rhetorically.
"Well, technically yes, but just-" he began before Steve cut him off.
"Shut it down!" he ordered angrily.
"Nope, not gonna happen." Tony responded flippantly.
"Is this some kind of game to you?" Tessa asked the two men. "We haven't even managed to stop the first homicidal robot we created, and you want to go playing around with this power again?"
"Look, this isn't going to end up like Ultron." Bruce said. "It's different this time."
"You don't know what you're doing!" Tessa insisted.
"And you do?" Bruce shot back at her. "She's not in your head still?" he asked, pointing behind her at Wanda.
"I know you're angry." Wanda said, stepping around Tessa, the regret obvious in her voice.
"Oh, we're way past that." Bruce told her. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." He threatened.
"Wanda's here to try to fix her mistakes." Tessa told him, coming to the young woman's defense. "And I thought that's what we were trying to do, too." She shot back at him. "After everything that's happened, I thought the two of you would have known better than to go playing mad scientist again!"
"What's happened is nothing compared to what's to come!" Tony fired back at her. "You were the one who spear-headed this idea from the beginning!"
"And look where's it gotten us!" Tessa told him, throwing her hands up in the air. "You have no idea the kind of power that gem holds! And you want to hand that power over to another force like Ultron in a fucking gift basket?!"
"Look-" Tony began again before Pietro took off in a blur and in a matter of seconds was standing on the opposite side of the room, having torn apart the power systems on the Cradle.
"You were saying?" he asked Tony, dropping the power cable he had in his hands down onto the floor with a thud. The sound of shattering glass filled the air then, and suddenly Pietro was sent dropping through the floor, Clint having fired a bullet up through the glass from under him, causing him to crash down with the broken glass as Wanda yelled out for him in concern.
"What? You didn't see that coming?" Clint tossed down at him with a smirk.
The computer systems in the room began throwing warning displays and sounding alarms as the Cradle lost power, the body's matrix slowing shutting down. "I'm rerouting the upload." Tony said, spinning around quickly to try to fix Pietro's interference.
Steve quickly drew back his arm and sent his shield flying out towards Tony, it hitting the computer in front of him, before bouncing off and smashing into the other computers around the room, sending bursts of sparks flying out with the impacts. Before Tessa could even register what was happening, Tony slid his hand into one of his suit's gloves and fired a blast out at Steve that caught him in the chest and sent him flying.
"ANTHONY!" Tessa shouted as she watched Steve fly across the room, shocked Tony had actually attacked her brother. More of Tony's suit came flying at him from across the room then, latching itself onto his chest. Tessa sent out a bast at him, not wanting to give him another chance at firing more blasts out, that sent him crashing through the glass wall behind him. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Bruce wrapped his arms around Wanda, daring her to piss him off.
"Let's all just take a breath here!" Tessa yelled out at everyone, realizing things were getting increasingly out of hand. Suddenly a blast struck Tessa on the chest, sending her skidding back on her ass as Tony flew back through the room, having sent his own blast out at her in retaliation. Wanda took that moment to push Bruce off of her, using her powers to send him stumbling away.
Tessa pushed herself back up on her elbow just as Thor came bursting through the chaos of the room. "Thor?" she asked, surprised to see him, even more surprised when he jumped up on the Cradle without so much as a word. "What are you doing?!" she yelled up to him as she watched him lift up his hammer, calling to it a large burst of lightning.
"WAIT!" Bruce yelled out, casting a hand out towards Thor in an effort to stop him. Thor ignored everyone and instead brought his hammer down on the top of the Cradle, sending the powerful current of electricity into the container under him. The room lit up with the bright light, but Tessa couldn't bring herself to look away as she watched in bafflement.
He directed the flow of energy into the Cradle for a long moment before he pulled back and everyone was left watching with bated breath. Suddenly, the container housing the body and gem exploded out in a powerful blast that sent Thor flying off of it and through the air. Tessa raised her hand to block her eyes from the bright burst of light as glass and metal rained down on her. Once the material stopped falling on her, she hesitantly looked up to find a red bio-synthetic being that had been brought into creation standing crouched down on the top of the container, the bright yellow gem glowing in the center of his forehead.
Tessa scrambled back onto her feet, watching the being with wide eyes, terror filling her that they had created something even worse than Ultron. She watched with her muscles tensed as the being came to a stand, looking around the room at everyone who was watching him in anticipation. After his eyes swung around the room, analyzing everything around him, his eyes came to a stop on Thor, and when they did, he dove into action. He flew out at Thor so suddenly that no one had time to react. He crashed into Thor, who swung him around and sent him flying through the glass wall behind him, sending the being down into the other room.
Tessa used her powers to transport herself into the room after him, ready to stop him from trying to attack anyone else, but when she dropped into the room, she paused as she found him floating in the air in front of the large window that overlooked the night skyline of Manhattan, his face looking…pensive. She froze as she watched him, finding his sudden shift in actions curious. Steve dropped down into the room then, followed by Thor, and Tessa brought up her hand, stopping them from moving any closer as he continued staring at the window.
She brought her eyes back over to him, and it was then that she realized that he wasn't staring at the city….he was staring at his own reflection. Hesitantly, she took a step towards him, and as she did, the red man slowly turned back around to face her, his body shifting in appearance, as what looked like a body suit took over his red synthetic skin. Everyone came down into the room then, realizing he didn't seem to be attacking anyone else. Tessa walked up to him as he floated down through the air, coming to a stop just in front of him as his feet touched the floor.
"I'm sorry. That was…..odd." he said in an all too familiar voice, his strange eyes looking down at Tessa, studying her.
Tessa searched his face, her eyebrows furrowed down as she watched him. The power that resided in her, so closely connected to the Tesseract, reached out to him then, and when it did, it brushed against the power emanating from his forehead and suddenly she felt curiously at ease with his presence, not on edge. "What are you?" she whispered out in amazement, no longer fearing him.
"Thor, what did you do?" she heard Steve ask from behind her.
"I had a vision." Thor explained. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at it's center was that." He told them all, pointing to the yellow gem in his forehead.
"It feels like the Tesseract…and the Aether." Tessa said, tilting her head in curiosity.
"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe. Unparalleled in it's destructive capabilities." Thor said.
"Then why would you-" Tessa began asking, looking over at him with furrowed brows before Thor continued, cutting her off.
"Because you were right." He told her. "This power was meant to come into creation. The cords of fate have been strung with him connecting them all. There are forces coming that the Avengers can not hope overcome alone. Starting with Ultron."
"Thank you." The being said then, causing Tessa to bring her gaze back to him.
"Why do you sound like J.A.R.V.I.S.?" she asked him, finding his familiar voice comforting, yet confusing for last she knew he had been destroyed by Ultron.
"We reconfigured J.A.R.V.I.S.'s matrix." Tony told her. "To build something new."
"Yeah, well, I think I've had my fill of new." Steve said warily.
"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" the being asked, looking over at Steve.
"You're not?" Steve asked.
He shook his head then, looking rather thoughtful. "I'm not Ultron." He told them. "Nor am I J.A.R.V.I.S. I am…." He said, his eyes dropping as he processed the thought. "I…I am." He said then, bringing his eyes back up to them all.
"I looked into your mind and saw annihilation." Wanda said, taking a step towards him.
"Look again." He implored.
"Her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint scoffed, walking closer as well, not willing to trust the dangerous being just yet.
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself….they all came from the Mind Stone." Thor told them. "And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. With it on our side…"
"Is it?" Steve asked pointedly, still not ready to trust it either.
"Look, guys….I…I know it doesn't make sense, but the power in him…" she said, looking back up to Ultron's eyes. "It's dangerous, but there's something about it that's different than any of the other powers I've encountered. It's…it's warmer." She told them all. "I can feel it calling to me like the Tesseract and Aether did. But it's…it's so vastly different than them." She said, looking back at everyone else.
"Well?" Steve questioned, looking from Tessa back up to him. "Are you on our side?"
"I don't think it's that simple." He responded.
"Well, it better get real simple, real quick." Clint told him, crossing his arms.
"I am on the side of life." He told them. "Ultron isn't. He's going to destroy it all."
"So, you're going to help us stop him?" Tessa asked him hopefully, to which he nodded back to her.
"What's he waiting for then?" Tony asked him.
"An audience." Was his reply. "He's waiting for you."
"Where?" Bruce asked then.
"Sokovia." Clint answered for him. "He's got Nat there, too. I picked up an S.O.S. from her."
"Tessa, if you're wrong about him…." Steve said, drawing her attention over to him. "If he's the monster Ultron created him to be…"
"I don't want to kill Ultron." He said then, pulling everyone's attention back to him. "He's unique and in pain….but that pain will roll across the Earth. So, he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others." He told them, looking to everyone who was watching him closely. "Maybe I am a monster." He said then, looking down at his hands. "I don't think I'd know if I were one….and I'm not what you intended, so there may be no way to make you trust me."
"I think everyone in this room has questioned whether or not they were a monster at least once." Tessa told him softly. "And sometimes trust is more than just a collection of logic and reason. Sometimes trusting someone is just a leap of fate." She said told him.
"Then I bid you to take that leap." He responded. "Because we need to go." He said as he turned and reached over to the table, picking Thor's hammer off the surface, it having been set there by Thor shortly before. Tessa and the others all looked down at his hand, eyes wide in surprise as he held out the hammer to Thor. A smirk pulled up Tessa's lip as Thor slowly took Mjolnir from him as he brushed past, walking out of the room.
"Well." Tessa said, looking around the room to everyone who was left staring at the hammer in Thor's hand speechless. "I don't know about any of you, but that's pretty convincing." she said, motioning to the hammer which had chosen to find him worthy.
"Right." Thor said, slapping the end of Mjolnir against his palm, it catching him by surprise as much as the others. "I rescind all my previous transgressions with you, Sister." He said then, dropping a hand on Tessa's shoulder as he walked past her. "Well done." He praised with a smile before he followed the being they had managed to create out of the room.
"Three minutes." Steve said after a moment, causing the rest of the group to look over to him. "Get what you need. Looks like we're taking this fight to Ultron." He told them before moving out of the room as well.
Tessa turned towards Tony then. "I'm only going to say this once so you might want to store it into the memory banks." She told him with a sigh. "I'm sorry. You were right." She muttered with a shake of her head.
"Come again. What was that?" Tony asked, holding his hand up to his ear like he hadn't heard her, but she knew he had.
"You were right." She said louder, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure the end times are upon us." He told her with a smirk, finding irony in the fact that it was him who was right and not her for once. "Is this how you feel all the time?" he asked her, tilting to his head to the side. "It's feels so exhilarating." He said, rolling his shoulders for emphasis. "Who knew being on I-told-you-so-duty would be so thrilling."
"Oh, I'm about to rescind it." She told him with a raised brow.
"Nope. Can't. Already out of the hatch." He insisted, turning around, and walking out of the room with a smile as Bruce and Clint followed behind him. "Tessa Rogers was wrong and Tony Stark was right….let it be forever be known for all generations to come." He called back as they all walked out of the room.
"Oh, dear Lord." Tessa said, rubbing her forehead in annoyance before looking over at Wanda and Pietro, who were watching with raised eyebrows. "Come on." She said, walking over to them. "Let's find you kids a change of clothes."
"Do you really think we can trust him?" Wanda asked then, motioning her head over to the balcony where they could see Thor speaking with the newest member to their team.
"Your powers were derived from the Mind Stone." Tessa said, lifting her chin up to her. "You tell me."
"I…" Wanda began, looking over to him in thought, seeking out his mind as she did. Her jaw snapped shut as she brushed against it. "I think I trust him more than any of you." She finally said after a moment, looking back over to Tessa.
"I can work with that." Tessa responded with a shrug. "Now, let's get moving. We have a world to save."